This is my first manual tranny; I have the 97 A4 1.8T Manual, non-sport suspension. I love the car, but my wife as a passenger is annoyed at the up and down movements of the nose of the car, particularly when shifting while accelerating vigorously.<p>My question: am I doing something wrong while shifting? Or, does the sport suspension, or aftermarket suspension parts, alleviate all or most of this? Best parts to solve this problem, without significant deterioration of ride? I'm not an autocrosser....<p>Thanks!!<br>Paul A4 1.8TMS Wett

Couple of thoughts:<p>a) Are you lifting off the gas before the clutch is disengaged? This will cause a lurch.<p>b) This is probably the key - you should have the engine speed reduced to that appropriate for the next gear such that when you engage the clutch, the engine speed hardly changes. Once the clutch is engaged, then it's hard on the gas for max. accelleration.<p>Watch the thach as you practice; after couple of weeks, should come naturally.

I've driven a manual for over 20 years almost always alone in the car. I had only noticed over the last couple of years that my pax heads would bob alittle when I shifted. I figured out that I was letting up on the gas too soon before clutching. I probably still do it when alone,but I try to pay attention to that with passengers<p>Bill

You are shifting just fine! IMO, it is almost impossible to avoid a bit of a bob between gears, especially in a non-sport setup. Even if you time the clutch/gas combo perfectly, there is still a period of time when the car is freewheeling. Whenever you accelerate in these cars, you get a bit of nose up, now, if you are still accelerating when you shift, the car will naturally begin to settle the nose. When you get back into gear, and continue accelerating, the nose rises again. The harder the acceleration, the more exaggerated this is, the stiffer the suspension, the less overall movement you will have. Before upgrading the suspension, you might want to try less aggressive acceleration with the SO in the car.

Related to this phenomenon, have any of you stick drivers noticed your natural reactions to shifting? In anticipation of a shift, my stomach will tighten just a bit, and I will lean forward. I realized this one day at a stoplight. Sitting in my old car, 95 Eclipse GSX, in neutral, clutch in, why, I don't know. The light turns green, and I hit the gas/let go of the clutch. My body leans forward, however, the car is not moving, I look down, car's in neutral, oops! Now my friend is laughing his A$$ off because I look like a fool. Normally I am an excellent stick driver, so with what pride I had left, I got into first, and dumped my friend back into his seat (the one thing I miss about my 210+ HP AWD pocket rocket).

This is a normal phenomenon and is caused by your bodies ability to predict and compensate for what it knows to be impending, in this case acceleration. This is also why out of the corner of your eye you always see the passenger's head bobbing back and forth as you shift. Making you think you are doing something wrong. It's just that they usually don't pay attention to your shift patterns and thus don't physically compensate. This is also part of the reason why drivers rarely get carsick.<p>-Micah

Everyone has a different style for shifting gears...unfortunately with your Wett-chip and the standard gears on the 1.8T the maxium power area in each gear is not going to shift smoothly into the next with fast shifting...you will have to either anticipate the RPMs that the next gear will rev at your current speed or you will have to shift on the lower part of the power curve...<p>The gear ratios for the stock engine are done very well, I hardly jerk at all when shifting fast....but I don't have 200HP either (YET!!!)<p>Enjoy yourself when you are alone..and slow down a bit for the Significant other....<p>HAPPY SHIFTING!<br>

a little annoying but you reap the benefits in the ride quality. It's a combination of three things: softish suspension, short wheelbase, and tall suspension travel. If you want to alleviate it, go to stiffer springs and a sport shock.<p>Peter 98.5 2.8QM